Page 154 of Deathless & Divided

An explosion like Lily had never heard before pierced the air. Whatever she was going to say was lost as the sight of fire and flying metal caught her eye. Her ears rang from the volume as a blast of heat and pressure covered the church steps. Damian covered her instantly, pushing her back toward the opened doors of the church as screams began to echo.

Lily felt sick. Her heart leaped into her throat.

What was that?

“Move,” Damian barked.

Lily couldn’t. She stumbled as her husband pushed her again. Damian caught her before she could hit the ground. Over his shoulder, she caught the sight of a familiar car burning in one giant ball of flames.

“No,” Lily breathed.

“Lily, move,” Damian demanded again.

People shoved past them, trying to get back into the safety of the church. Her heart fell to the cement steps and shattered into pieces as she watched her brother’s car be engulfed in another wave of flames.

“No!”

“Lily, please move.”

“Dino,” Lily cried.

“I’m sorry.” Damian wrapped Lily in a bear hug and forced her to move. “I love you.”

“Dino!”

“It looks like there was a very sophisticated timer set on the bomb,” the detective informed.

Lily wasn’t paying attention to the man. All she kept thinking as she stared at him was that her brother wouldn’t want this cop in his home. Dino would have hated having any official inside his private space going through his things. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been given much of a choice in the matter.

It had taken three weeks for the investigation to come back with anything regarding the bomb. Lily didn’t give a damn what the police had to say. Things like this wasn’t something that could be settled in a courtroom. The officials, no matter how hard they worked or how many leads they had, would never truly know who set the bomb in Dino’s car. That was just how it worked in the mafia.

No, it wouldn’t be settled in a courtroom.

The streets, but not a courtroom.

Damian sighed, his hand squeezing Lily’s shoulder gently. “And how do you know that?”

“There was a significant portion of the electronics that survived the blast. After it was put together and worked over, we discovered it was connected to the Bentley’s radio system.”

Lily’s brow puckered. “So, when he turned it on, it blew?”

“When he turned it to a particular station, it set the timer to begin ticking down. That was why he had already reversed out of the parking space when the bomb went off.”

Oh.

That only left Lily with a sicker feeling than before.

“Would you have any idea who would know the kinds of radio stations your brother listened to?” the man asked.

Damian’s hand squeezed Lily’s shoulder again. She didn’t need his silent reminders.

“No, and I think it’s time for you to leave,” Lily said, standing from her chair.

The detective stood as well, frowning. “But—”

“I have nothing to offer and we’ve complied as much as we could, even though you didn’t give us any choice,” Lily interrupted firmly.

By no means would she allow the cops to keep digging through Dino’s house.